2017 will kick off with one of the most massive motorized adventure events of all time: the 39th annual Dakar Rally. Next year’s route and favorite competitor lineup has just been announced, and of course the 5,500-mile odyssey is slated to be more badass than ever before.

The 2016 Rallye du Maroc was this diesel buggy’s last race. Oh, not because it got wadded up like an empty beer can at a frat party. The thing went on to win the last stage after getting turned into this trash heap by some sand dunes.

Ouninpohja, Finland is a quiet wood with a lazy dirt road winding through it which turns into a racetrack when the World Rally Championship comes to town. Red Bull’s Volkswagen Polo R has won the race here three times. Today, it has some traffic on its tail.

The Osaka Motor Show begins this Saturday and, on top of an update to the Honda CB1100 standard-retro, we hear Big Red has two more concepts coming that will tug on the heart strings of off-road lovers everywhere.

You’re looking at that .GIF and thinking “wow, I can’t believe you just made me watch a man die.” Not only did motorcyclist Paulo Gonçalves not die here, he was up and racing again before the sand stopped flying.

Dakar Rally’s television coverage alluded to a wreck that forced American racing legend Robby Gordon to withdraw from the race, but offered few details. Now we know why: the oops in question was quite boneheaded, involving one of Gordon’s support vehicles and some dangerous shenanigans on the highway.

Anyone who’s been following Sébastien Loeb since his World Rally Championship days knows that he’s a beast, and he’s been proving that all over again at this year’s Dakar Rally. He rolled on Stage 8, but he and co-driver Daniel Elena managed to put the car back together to limp to the end of the stage.

18-year-old American off-road racer Sheldon Creed has been disqualified from the 2016 Dakar Rally. After his vehicle took severe damage, the Speed Energy team decided to skip waypoints to try and get somewhere repairs could be made but the race organizers weren’t having it.

Tire changes are an inevitability in long-distance off-road racing. They’re also somewhat labor intensive, costing the drivers’ precious time and energy. Not so much if you’ve got an on-board jacking system though!

Buggy-racing twin brothers Tim and Tom Coronel are both at Dakar this weekend. Unfortunately, Tom broke down with an electrical issue he couldn’t diagnose. Luckily, Tim showed up soon and knew how to fix it, as he’d encountered a similar issue with his own buggy.

Wet, nasty conditions don’t just affect races on track — they can ruin an off-road rally raid’s day, too. In addition to the opening leg of this year’s race getting cancelled, the second and third stages were shortened and today’s third stage was halted for trucks when a landslide destroyed part of it.

The formula for off-road videos has become pretty predictable; big landscape pan, slow-motion mud slinging, dramatic music. The official promo reel for the 2016 Dakar Rally has that. Also, some visuals I’m not sure what to make of.

Dakar Rally season is upon us, baby. That means even more montages from teams with tons of money and vehicles. That pretty much means Red Bull. We just saw an awesome clip of their whole crew, but fans of the big rigs might like this spotlight on the Kamaz racing trucks even more.